Death Threats

Nearly four years ago, Congress created a special program that set aside 5,000 visas annually for five years to help Iraqis who risked their lives working alongside U.S. troops and diplomats to resettle in this country. These were people who worked as translators, as drivers or in other jobs helping Americans in the war, and many of them faced anger and even threats of violence as a result. But though the program was greeted with fanfare and relief when it was passed, federal officials now acknowledge that the Special Immigrant Visa program is languishing.

Among the emails Sarah Palin fielded while she was on the campaign trail were a batch of vicious threats against her life. On Sept. 12, 2008, she received a message through the state of Alaska's website that accused her of being racist and suggested that she would have joined the Ku Klux Klan if she were a man. "She doesn't belong to the NRA to support the right of each citizen to have weapons in an aim of self-defence, but just to support the...

May was the worst month in Ichiro Suzuki's career, as he hit .210 with a .270 on-base percentage. Oddly, the Mariners played great, seemingly proving the theory that for a future Hall of Famer he has very little effect on winning. … What does Jair Jurrjens have in common with Lefty Gomez , Randy Johnson and Ubaldo Jimenez ? According to the Elias Sports Bureau, those are the only big leaguers to begin a season with nine straight starts of six-plus innings giving up two or fewer runs in each game.

May 18, 2011 | By Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Aimal Yaqubi, Los Angeles Times

Mina Habib has been waiting for half an hour at police headquarters, preparing for a showdown with the chief of criminal investigations. She sits on a plush sofa and adjusts her head scarf as a dozen men parade past. None of them pays much attention to Habib, 25, despite her striking shock of auburn hair, amber eyes and iridescent pink lipstick. She eavesdrops as the men demand that the police investigate rape allegations, neighborhood disputes and runaway wives. (She perks up at the mention of runaway wives; she smells a story.)

It has been a harrowing few months for liberal Pakistani lawmaker Fauzia Wahab. Islamic militants assassinated two of her government colleagues. Gunmen tried to kidnap her son, and effigies of her were burned at rallies. A trip to the U.S. this month to attend a seminar hosted by her congressional peers in Washington provided a brief respite from the turmoil. After a week of meetings, she took time off to visit her sister in Orange County, where she browsed in bookstores and took in a show about the Beatles -- without armed guards in tow. "It's a beautiful place," she said over tea last week at her sister's home in Laguna Niguel.

UCLA announced Friday that it would not discipline or further investigate the student who released a controversial online video in which she complained about Asian students' behavior and mimicked an Asian language. But later in the day, the student, Alexandra Wallace, announced that she was withdrawing from UCLA because of death threats and because she had been "ostracized from an entire community. " In a statement released to the Daily Bruin, UCLA's student newspaper, she apologized for offending Asians and called the video a mistake.

Amid a debate about free speech in the Internet era, UCLA announced Friday that it would not proceed with any investigation or disciplinary action against the student who produced a controversial online video in which she complained about Asian students' behavior and crudely mimicked Asian languages. "While we were appalled and offended by the sentiments expressed in the video, we have uncovered no facts to lead us to believe the student code of conduct was violated. The campus has no intention of pursuing the matter further," UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton said in a telephone interview Friday.

Lean Cuisine has ordered more than 10,000 pounds of its frozen spaghetti and meatball entrees recalled, according to the Department of Agriculture. The dishes are said to possibly contain foreign material. The company received complaints from consumers about hard plastic in the dinners. No injuries were reported. The spaghetti is produced by Nestle and was shipped to stores east of the Rocky Mountains. The complains have come from consumers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota.

The Columbus, Ohio, lawyer who tipped off Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel that two of his players were involved in a federal drug trafficking case has received death threats and now says he regrets ever contacting the Buckeyes coach. "I'm not the Judas in this situation. You know, I feel like Peter, but I'm not the Judas," attorney Christopher Cicero said in an interview Friday with ESPN's "Outside the Lines" and reported on ESPN.com. Tressel has admitted he violated NCAA rules by not disclosing information Cicero e-mailed to him. He repeatedly refrained from telling Ohio State's compliance department or his superiors about potential NCAA bylaw violations involving some of his players.

Bell's mayor, whose absence from council meetings has made it difficult for the city to deal with its fiscal crisis, said he has withdrawn from civic duties because of death threats that make him fear for his life. The absences of Oscar Hernandez and Councilwoman Teresa Jacobo have left the council without a quorum and unable to make budget cuts that Bell's interim city administrator says are necessary to keep the city from sliding into insolvency. Jacobo declined to speak with The Times, but Hernandez said his colleague had also skipped meetings because of threats.